Law and Gender Commons^™

The Failure Of Consent: Re-Conceptualizing Rape As Sexual Abuse Of Power, Michal Buchhandler-Raphael

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article argues that while rape law reform has accomplished significant changes in the past decades, the reform has since stalled. The contemporary focus on the element of consent might account for this stagnation. This move has both failed to effect instrumental change in the courts as well as in social norms, and is conceptually flawed and normatively misguided. The practical result of these deficiencies is that rape, as defined by our criminal justice system, bears little resemblance to the various forms of sexual abuses that are inflicted on victims. While rape law typically criminalizes only the physically violent sexual …

Removing Categorical Constraints On Equal Employment Opportunities And Anti-Discrimination Protections, Anastasia Niedrich

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

It has been the "historical tendency of anti-discrimination law to use categories to define protected classes of people." This Article challenges the categorical approach and seeks to change that limited framework. This Article focuses on the flaws with Title VII's categorical approach and discusses why there is a desperate need for change to combat the different types and targets of workplace discrimination today, focusing on the transgender community as one example. After discussing the current framework and operation of Title VII, this Article analyzes the insurmountable flaws inherent in the categorical approach to anti-discrimination law, and specifically considers Title VII's …

Successes And Failures In International Human Trafficking Law, Luis Cdebaca

Michigan Journal of International Law

Professor Carr yesterday remarked that human trafficking is too often discussed only in theoretical or academic ways. I've spent most of my career in the field, where interactions with victims, traffickers, and defense attorneys are anything but theoretical. But as keynote speaker for an academic symposium this morning, I'm going to try to lay out a bit of the conceptual state of play from my current vantage point. The title of this symposium, "Successes and Failures in International Human Trafficking Law," is a bit binary. Perhaps, in the best diplomatic tradition, we can temper that to "Limitations and Opportunities in …

Rebecca J. Cook & Simone Cusack, Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives Book Review, Zanita E. Fenton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Judging Women, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi, Mirya Holman, Eric A. Posner

Faculty Scholarship

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s assertion that female judges might be “better” than male judges has generated accusations of sexism and potential bias. An equally controversial claim is that male judges are better than female judges because the latter have benefited from affirmative action. These claims are susceptible to empirical analysis. Primarily using a dataset of all the state high court judges in 1998-2000, we estimate three measures of judicial output: opinion production, outside state citations, and co-partisan disagreements. We find that the male and female judges perform at about the same level. Roughly similar findings show up in data from the …

The North Carolina Association Of Women Attorneys: Creating Camaraderie, Nurturing Leaders, And Protecting The Rights Of Women, Carolyn Mcallaster, Jennifer Brobst

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Does Critical Mass Matter? Views From The Board Room, Lissa Lamkin Broome, John M. Conley, Kimberly D. Krawiec

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, we report and analyze the results of forty-six wide-ranging interviews with corporate directors and other relevant insiders on the general topic of whether and how the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of corporate boards matters. In particular, we explore their views on the concept of “critical mass” — that is, the theory that women and racial or ethnic minorities are unlikely to have an impact in the boardroom until they grow from a few tokens into a considerable minority of the board.

In contrast to other recent qualitative research on corporate boards, we find more limited support …

Proposition 26: The Cost To All Women, Emma S. Ketteringham, Allison Korn, Lynn M. Paltrow

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Children, Parents & The State: The Construction Of A New Family Ideology, Deseriee A. Kennedy

Scholarly Works

More than twenty-five states allow courts to consider parental incarceration or conviction of a crime in determining whether to terminate parental rights. This problem is of increasing significance as a result of dramatic growth in incarceration rates, particularly among women who were often the primary and sole caretaker of their children before their imprisonment. Social scientists have recognized that the reality for parents in many communities is one of widespread and repeated incarceration, which has a devastating effect on families and communities. The problem is magnified by a failed drug policy and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which, in …

Employment Discrimination Against Lgbt Utahns, Clifford Rosky, Christy Mallory, Jenni Smith, M.V Lee Badgett

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Utah does not have a statewide law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment. This report gathers together all existing data on the prevalence of discrimination in Utah to examine how frequently lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Utahns experience employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and assess the likely impact of passing a statewide nondiscrimination law.

The report begins by analyzing the data collected through a 2010 survey conducted by Equality Utah, which is the state’s first survey on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment. The data show …

Women In Afghanistan: A Human Rights Tragedy Ten Years After 9/11, Hayat Alvi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Ten years after the September 11th attacks in the United States and the military campaign in Afghanistan, there is some good news, but unfortunately still much bad news pertaining to women in Afghanistan. The patterns of politics, security/military operations, religious fanaticism, heavily patriarchal structures and practices, and ongoing insurgent violence continue to threaten girls and women in the most insidious ways. Although women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan have finally entered the radar screen of the international community’s consciousness, they still linger in the margins in many respects.

Socio-cultural and extremist religious elements continue to pose serious obstacles to reconstruction …

Women's Eggs: Exceptional Endings, Justine Durrell

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Fertility businesses and stem cell researchers promise infertile women the miracle of having a child. There are, however, potential physical and psychological risks to the egg donors that have not yet been properly studied. The limited studies undertaken to date have not been able to determine whether the use of fertility drugs increases egg donors' risks of cancer. In fact, federal regulations and guidelines do not require a national registry to track an egg donor's health after donation. Despite that assisted reproduction has been changing how we conceive children for several decades, there are no longitudinal studies on donors' well-being. …

Women, Decision Making And Sustainability: Exploring The Experience Of The Badi Foundation In Rural China, Lori Noguchi, Shahla Ali

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This Report follows the experience of the Badi Foundation, a nonprofit organization operating in rural China, in its efforts to release women's potential to effect change in their communities. Numerous international conferences and treaties have recognized that female decision making is essential to achieve global environmental change and sustainable development. Recent scholarship recognizes that women are oftoverlooked sources for knowledge, skills, and leadership. Project-based efforts to empower and encourage women to participate in problem solving and other decision making in their communities have produced positive results. Through the Badi Foundation's Environmental Action Program (EAP), rural women gain the skills they …

Choosing Your Child's Race, Dov Fox

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Assisted reproduction has answered many couples' hopes of conceiving a child. In assisted reproduction, the appearance of racial salience matters, and adjusting the prominence of race in decision making frameworks can shape social meaning. There is a spectrum of salience-varying approaches that sperm banks could adopt to manage information about donor race, each of which sends a different message about the social meaning of donor catalog and website design. This Article considers four such approaches: race-indifferent, race-sensitive, race-attentive, and raceexclusive. Although civil rights scholarship reveals that race-based classification is not a necessary condition of wrongful discrimination, we should remain diligent …

Overeducated Achievatrons Unite!, Joan C. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Millennium, Same Glass Ceiling? The Impact Of Law Firm Compensation Systems On Women, Joan C. Williams, Veta Richardson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mancession Or "Momcession"?: Good Providers, A Bad Economy, And Gender Discrimination, Joan C. Williams, Allison Tait

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Opening Remarks, Peter T. Coleman

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Annotated Legal Bibliography On Gender

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Law, Literature, And The Legacy Of Virginia Woolf: Stories And Lessons In Feminist Legal Theory, 21 Tex. J. Women & L. 1 (2011), Susan L. Brody

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Selling Sex: Analyzing The Improper Use Defense To Contract Enforcement Through The Lens Of Carroll V. Beardon, 59 Clev. St. L. Rev. 693 (2011), Julie M. Spanbauer

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

The 1963 decision of the Supreme Court of Montana in Carroll v. Beardon occupies less than three full pages in the Pacific Reporter and involves a simple real estate transaction in which a "madam" sold a house used for prostitution to another "madam." The opinion is the last in a long line of cases which speak specifically to the issue of enforcement of facially legitimate contracts that in some manner involve or are related to prostitution. It is commonly cited in treatises and hornbooks as representative of the movement by courts toward enforcement of such contracts under the law of …

Kicking The Ina Out Of Bed: Abolishing The Consummation Requirement For Proxy Marriages, Karthryn Rae Edwards

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

The Immigration and Nationality Act's requirement that proxy marriages be consummated in order to be valid is intrusive, inflexible, and outdated. The case of Hotaru Ferschke illustrates how the consummation requirement creates inequitable results. One month after she married United States Marine Sergeant Ferschke in a proxy wedding ceremony, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services summarily denied her application for legal permanent residency because she did not consummate her proxy marriage, even though she was pregnant when she got married. This Note argues the government has no reasonable interest in dictating whether and when a couple becomes intimate. The consummation …

Polarized Circuits: Party Affiliation Of Appointing Presidents, Ideology, And Circuit Court Voting In Race And Gender Civil Rights Cases, Christopher Smith

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

The legitimacy of the American federal judiciary stems from its role as the non-political branch of government. Federal judges must decide cases independent of political leanings. However, Federal judges receive lifetime appointments from Presidents of different parties, and different political eras. This Article explores whether the ideology of the appointing president affects the decision making of judges within the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. An analysis of the decisions by Republican- and Democrat-appointed judges in gender discrimination and race discrimination cases shows politics does creep into judicial decision making. Furthermore, this Article reveals the changing landscape of judicial ideology …

Foreign Wives, Domestic Violence: U.S. Law Stigmatizes And Fails To Protect Mail-Order Bridges, Olga Grosh

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Despite the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that allows immigrant victims of battery and extreme cruelty to self-petition for changes to their immigration status, the protection that VAWA offers is severely hindered by conflict with immigration law. The assumption underlying immigration law that foreign bride marriages are fraudulent stigmatizes the immigrant wives or fiancees as women less deserving of independent relationship decisions. This reduces their autonomy and increases their vulnerability to domestic violence. This Note proposes that Congress could prevent tragic deaths by removing from battered immigrant brides the burden of overcoming the negative presumption that they entered into marriage …

Dying For The Bonds Of Marriage: Forced Marriages As A Weapon Of Genocide, Carmel O'Sullivan

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

For centuries, women have been "spoils of war." In some corners of the world, forced marriage remains a method of extermination, and rape and sexual violence against women are still the inevitable consequences of armed conflict. Amidst significant recent advances in protecting women during war, forced marriages have been recognized as a crime against humanity. However, this recognition is limited and does not address the gravity of forced marriages. This Article seeks to draw attention to the practice of forced marriages as an instrument of genocide and, thus, a "heinous reality that calls for a historic response." As the landmark …

The M Word: From Partial Coverture To Skills-Based Fiduciary Duties In Marriage, Jo Carrillo

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Fiscal realities and duties play a larger role in defining the nature of marriage today than they did in the past. This Article sketches out the transition in California community property law from partial coverture-a system in which married women could own, but not manage or control, separate property in marriage-to skills-based fiduciary duties-an equal management system in which either spouse has the authority to manage and control marital property subject to statutorily enumerated fiduciary duties. Skills-based fiduciary duties create interspousal causes of action if breached; hence this Article offers prospective spouses a brief overview of the legal dimensions of …

Dainty Hands: Perceptions Of Women And Crime In Sherlock Holmes Stories, Hadar Aviram

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

For the last 150 years, conventional wisdom among criminologists saw crime as a predominantly male phenomenon. Recent socio-historical research has challenged this premise, showing a decline in the presence of women in the process as criminal defendants. Cultural studies have attributed this decline to a shift in perception of female deviance, from autonomy and enterprise to passivity and predetermination. This Article follows this transition in the cultural image of women and crime through the lens of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. The women in the stories are not clearly distinguished by their role in the criminal enterprise (perpetrators, accomplices, …

Mentoring For A Public Good, George Kawamoto

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Even into the 1970s, Asian American attorneys faced significant discrimination and difficulty finding work in law firms. Because of these injustices and a desire to right them, social justice lawyering became a hallmark of that generation of Asian American lawyers. Litigating civil rights violations in cases such as Korematsu v. United States allowed senior Asian American attorneys to mentor a younger generation of lawyers. Although more minority attorneys now are offered work in firms and the appearance of racism has diminished, social justice mentoring remains vital to today's Asian American legal community. Teaming minority law students and young attorneys with …

Taking (Live)Stock Of Animal Welfare In Agriculture: Comparing Two Ballot Initiatives, Neil Thapar

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Current federal regulation of livestock welfare is inadequate to address the increasing abuses inflicted upon animals in agriculture today. In order to fill this enforcement gap, citizens and organizations have turned to the state ballot initiative. In 2008, Californians passed Proposition 2, banning intensive confinement practices for livestock. Other states have passed similar measures. In a preemptive response to this growing movement for stricter livestock welfare standards, the agricultural lobby in Ohio passed Issue 2 in 2009, creating a constitutionally-mandated board with authority over livestock welfare. This Note analyzes each of these ballot initiatives in the context of promoting animal …

Gender Inequality In The Law: Deficiencies Of Battered Woman Syndrome And A New Solution To Closing The Gender Gap In Self-Defense Law, Meredith C. Doyle

CMC Senior Theses

Dr. Lenore Walker developed battered woman syndrome to address the issue of domestic violence and to give battered women a defense in situations in which they kill their abusive partners when they are not overtly threatening them. Self-defense law is based on male on male combat. Women are less able to protect themselves in an attack by a man, and so they may preemptively attack their sleeping partners to avoid a situation in which they cannot adequately protect themselves. Battered woman syndrome explains why these battered women act in a way that is irrational to a non-battered person. Walker's theory …